Her journey began as many do nowadays, by talking to friends and a serious Google session.

A rising junior at Fairport Harding Junior/Senior High, Danielle, 16, is traveling to the town of Niscemi on the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. She said exchange students she got to know at Fairport first piqued her interest.

“I got home and started researching and decided it was something I wanted to do,” she said. “My mom was excited because she knew about the program and she thought it was a good one. You pick your top three choices of countries. My top choice was Italy and they gave me my top choice. I was really excited when I got it.”

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Danielle is the first student from Fairport Harbor to be accepted into the AFS-USA Study Abroad program, said Sandy Caporossi, the Northeast Ohio area AFS-USA chair. Formerly the American Foreign Service, AFS-USA is a nonprofit organization that has been organizing student exchanges for 65 years with programs in 40 countries.

Prospective exchange students with AFS-USA have to meet certain qualification in regards to grade point average and letters of recommendations, Caporossi said.

“Language skills, not so much. You’d like to have some kind of basis but that is not going to exclude you,” she added. “These kids learn so quickly when they go and live with another family. It’s full immersion. A lot of the countries we send kids to, like Thailand, Germany and Scandinavia, they really don’t offer those languages at our schools. Most have French and Spanish, and only a few still have German and maybe Japanese.”

“I take Rosetta Stone courses online right now, and once I get there I’ll have language courses,” she said. “Most of the people who come back from 10-month stays say they’re fluent in the language, which I think is really cool. They say they start dreaming in that language and thinking in a different language.”

The biggest obstacle has been raising the money needed to travel. While there are scholarships on the local level to some extent, foreign exchange students mostly pay their own way.

“We didn’t’ have money to put into it so I had to raise it myself,” Danielle said. “Right now I have around $11,000 and have about $4,000 to go.”

Susie Walters, Basista’s aunt, said her niece has been at every concert in Fairport Harbor’s summer concert series at Lakefront Park selling candy bars, and she’s sought sponsorship from local community groups and businesses.

“Danielle is going to be at Fairport’s Lighthouse Festival on the 17th selling candy bars, and we’re have a car wash on the 23rd at Chick-fil-A in Mentor,” she said. “She’s just been so focused. She got a part-time job, too. She’s tenacious.”

Chrisann Colabuno, Danielle’s mother, also started a Go Fund Me account to try and raise the remainder of the tuition. Danielle said she has to pay her airfare, school fees, and any other costs associated with travel. A volunteer-based organization, AFS-USA does not pay host families to take a student.

“The girl I’m staying with is an only child and she wanted a sister,” she said. “The family I’m living with has a stay-at-home mom and the dad is a police officer and my sister is 17 and I’m 16.”

Students who have returned from AFS-USA programs abroad, which also include semester- and summer-length options, often describe it as a life-changing experience.

“I know study abroad is more common in college, but I think the kids who have gone in high school are much more confident in going on and making life and college choices,” Caporossi said. “I think at a high school level they get a whole new perspective on the world. We are a global society and they take that confidence and independence whether they go into college or onto a career. Obviously going in high school is going to stand out on a college application.”

About the Author

Liz started working at The News-Herald in July 2012. She's covered municipalities, schools and now the night beat. She likes Doctor Who, baseball, ice hockey and cheeseburgers. Reach the author at elundblad@news-herald.com
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